Discusses the merging of medical, religious and social aspects of handling the topic of death, especially to those who work and learn in those environments.

In late medieval Catholicism, mourners employed an array of practices to maintain connection with the deceased—most crucially, the belief in purgatory, a middle place between heaven and hell where souls could be helped by the actions of the living. In the early sixteenth century, the Reformation abolished purgatory, as its leaders did not want attention to the dead diminishing people's devotion to God. But while the Reformation was supposed to end communication between the living and dead, it turns out the result was in fact more complicated than historians have realized. In the three centuries after the Reformation, Protestants imagined continuing relationships with the dead, and the desire for these relations came to form an important—and since neglected—aspect of Protestant belief and practice. In Speaking with the Dead in Early America, historian Erik R. Seeman undertakes a 300-year history of Protestant communication with the dead. Seeman chronicles the story of Protestants' relationships with the deceased from Elizabethan England to puritan New England and then on through the American Enlightenment into the middle of the nineteenth century with the explosion of interest in Spiritualism. He brings together a wide range of sources to uncover the beliefs and practices of both ordinary people, especially women, and religious leaders. This prodigious research reveals how sermons, elegies, and epitaphs portrayed the dead as speaking or being spoken to, how ghost stories and Gothic fiction depicted a permeable boundary between this world and the next, and how parlor songs and funeral hymns encouraged singers to imagine communication with the dead. Speaking with the Dead in Early America thus boldly reinterprets Protestantism as a religion in which the dead played a central role.

This book deals with the special power of literary texts to put us in contact with the past. A large number of authors, coming from different ages, have described this power in terms of 'the conversation with the dead': when we read these texts, we somehow find ourselves conducting a special kind of dialogue with dead authors. The book covers a number of texts and authors that make use of this metaphor - Petrarch, Machiavelli, Sidney, Flaubert, Michelet, Barthes. In connecting these texts and authors in novel ways, Jurgen Pieters tackles the all-important question of why we remain fascinated with literature in general and with the specific texts that to us are still its backbone. Siituated in the aftermath of New Historicism, the book challenges the idea that literary history as a reading practice stems from a desire to 'speak with the dead'.Key Features* Offers a broad survey (a combination of classical literature, Renaissance literature and modern theory and history)* Issues a plea for the importance of reading literary texts and the power of literature* Discusses key figues from the Western canon - Homer, Virgil, Dante, Machiavelli - in light of the idea that we can learn from the past by talking to 'the dead'* Combines theoretical discussions of the relationsip between literature and history with close reading of works by major literary authors and historians.

Speaking for the Dead is an incisive examination of the highly topical and often controversial issues surrounding the use of human cadavers in scientific research. Fully revised and updated to include recent developments in this area, this new edition incorporates the repeated organ scandals in the UK, body parts scandals in the United States, and the abuses of bodies in China. The book provides new material on neuroimaging, neuroethics and Alzheimer's disease and the major ethical issues they raise for society, in addition to discussing plastination in the form of BodyWorlds types of exhibitions. As human anatomists and bioethicists, the authors offer a unique perspective on these issues, crossing the boundaries between clinical, medical, legal and ethical concerns. Their exploration of both historical and contemporary data results in a clear and comprehensive examination of issues at the forefront of bioethics. With its clear writing style and use of non-technical language Speaking for the Dead will be an essential book for all those interested in bioethics, an area which continues to increase in significance with the development of new techniques for the manipulation of human cadavers. As human anatomists and bioethicists, the authors offer a unique perspective on these issues, crossing the boundaries between clinical, medical, legal and ethical concerns. Their exploration of historical developments as well as their analyses of recent case studies result in a pertinent and comprehensive examination of issues at the forefront of bioethics.

Modern technology has given us powerful new tools for an age-old dream: seeing and speaking with the dead. Using things you probably already own - such as a camcorder, computer, or tape recorder - you can contact departed loved ones or other spirits, record their images and voices, and establish two-way communications between the worlds. Speak with the Dead also details the more traditional methods of seance, trance, and scrying. You don't have to be a "techie" or an occultist to use any of these techniques. This book will guide you to one of the most awe-inspiring experiences you'll ever have - making contact with deceased loved ones and other souls. Speak with the Dead is the first book in the modern marketplace to focus on practical, usable techniques for communicating with spirits. This book shows you seven methods for spirit contact: -catching Electronic Voice Phenomena on tape -using radio noise to provide spirits with a voice -capturing ghostly images on videotape -letting spirits use your computer or telephone -scrying, establishing telepathic contact with the dead, and holding a seance Speak with them. They're waiting.

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